My "Shopgirl" review

Are you awake?! Can't sleep?! Remember, for relaxing times, make it Suntory time at the New York Bar with stunning Tokyo views!

Moderator: Bob

Post Reply
Message
Author
Congruous
Suntory Time
Posts: 388
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:59 pm

My "Shopgirl" review

#1 Post by Congruous » Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:22 am

This movie is about love. It's not particularly uplifting. Maybe that's why I'm disappointed in it.

Is one sort of love better than another? Is it more important to be loved in a certain way or should one love another without caring much about the return one gets? Is love an apparition? Is wanting it but not getting it okay when one is in a relationship? These are the thorny questions Mirabelle (Claire Danes), Jeremy (Jason Schwartzmann), and Ray (Steve Martin) tackle.

Danes' performance is the heart of the movie. Her expressions tell the story of what is really going on. She does a great job. My only gripe is that she is so painfully skinny.

Schwartzmann is goofy and discombobulated and impossible. Can this be the same guy who played the mighty Max Fischer?

Steve Martin is like a ghost walking through the story. There comes a point midway through the movie in which I said, "Who is this guy? What is he doing?" His performance was disappointing.

This is a small movie that, in two hours, can't sort through all its issues. Toward the end two characters are standing together chatting. Each asks the other if they are happy. Both say yes. We know these answers are empty. This sort of defines the movie for me. In "Shopgirl," love is stretched and twisted and offered and refused, but it is never really interesting.

Congruous
Suntory Time
Posts: 388
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:59 pm

#2 Post by Congruous » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:21 am

"Shopgirl" does not compare favorably with "LIT." There are some pictorial and structural similarities, but not many. The quality of the photography in "Shopgirl" doesn't approach that of "LIT."

User avatar
sw25
LIT Super Fan
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Aug 19, 2004 9:00 am

#3 Post by sw25 » Thu Nov 10, 2005 10:19 pm

Thanks for the opinion.

I was thinking of seeing it. I like J.S. a lot, and he's in so few movies, I feel the need to patronize all of them as soon as they come out.

Post Reply